A CHRISTMAS crackdown on drug drivers has been launched.

Durham Police are carrying out an operation targeting the growing number of people who drive under the influence of drugs.

The force is putting all 80 of its operational traffic officers through Fitness Impairment Training (FIT), to help them to detect whether driving has been impaired, and also to give them an idea of which drugs have been taken, later to be confirmed by a toxicology blood test.

Chief Insp Paul Goundry, head of traffic at Durham, said: "These tests are absolutely superb at detecting the impaired driver.

"If alcohol has been discounted at a roadside test we can now use the FIT tests which are simple to perform when sober but much more difficult to do when impaired."

Historically, one of the problems in tackling the problem has been detecting and proving impairment of driving due to drug taking - much harder than the simple breathalyser test used under the drink-driving laws.

The two-day course shows officers how to use tests like judging pupil dilation and simple co-ordination tasks, such as walking in a straight line or standing on one leg for 30 seconds. Officers also receive training on specific drug categories and how they affect driving.

The crackdown will be backed by a media campaign featuring adverts on North-East radio stations by George Fisher, whose son was killed by a drug driver in Northumberland. There will be posters on 200 buses, with the catch phrase, Drug Driving - You'd be off your Head.

The campaign is a partnership that includes road safety officers, drug action teams and police forces covering Northumbria, Durham and Cleveland.

Thousands of young people logged on to its website and more than 1,800 filled out a questionnaire in what is believed to be the biggest drug driving survey in England. Results showed that awareness of the penalties of drug driving increased from none to 26 per cent, as a result of the first phase of the campaign.